With Semyon Varlamov again in the net, the Avalanche will attempt to overcome the dreaded home-ice disadvantage Thursday night and win its fourth consecutive game against the New York Islanders.

Varlamov has been better since allowing four goals on 27 shots against the Islanders in Brooklyn on Nov. 30. That was the night the third defensive pairing — Nate Redmond and Brandon Gormley — especially struggled and both were minus-3.

This is from my game story that night:

“They’ve been playing some good hockey for us,” said Avalanche coach Patrick Roy. “Tonight was maybe a mismatch for them in some ways. But it’s back-to-back games and we just needed to use everybody tonight. Obviously when they are out there, we need that extra save from our goaltender.”

Roy added that those “mismatches” for Gormley and Redmond were “because they (the Isles) have four good lines. It’s a team with a lot of depth.”

Colorado’s top line of Matt Duchene (minus-2), Gabe Landeskog (minus-3) and Nathan MacKinnon (minus-3) also struggled, at least on paper. Duchene played despite being ill Sunday night and Monday morning and missing the morning skate.

Gormley will be a healthy scratch against the Islanders, and Redmond — back in the lineup Tuesday against Chicago after a run of healthy scratches — will be paired with Nate Guenin.

And finally, every time the Islanders come to Denver, I’m reminded of covering the Nov. 28, 1979 Islanders-Rockies game at McNichols Sports Arena in which Billy Smith became the first NHL goalie to ever be credited with a goal.

The “be credited with” was important.

The Don Cherry-coached Rockies were leading 4-3 and had control of the puck in the Islanders’ zone when referee Bryan Lewis raised his arm, signaling a delayed penalty on the Islanders – which turned out to be hooking on Mike Kaszycki. Because the Rockies had the puck, play was to continue until the Islanders touched it. Then Lewis would blow the whistle, stopping play, and Kaszycki would go to the penalty box.

Colorado goalie Bill McKenzie headed to the bench, replaced by a sixth attacker. The puck ended up in the right-wing corner, and rookie defenseman Rob Ramage – assuming someone would take his place at the point – passed the puck toward the blue line. Problem was, nobody was there, and the puck crossed the blue line. And the red line. And the other blue line. The Islanders saw what was coming and raised their sticks, and the puck slid into the empty net.

Islanders 4, Rockies 4.

The goal originally was credited to Islanders defenseman Dave Lewis, but it was changed to Smith when replays confirmed he was the last Islander to touch the puck.

The Rockies ended up winning 7-4 for one of their 19 victories that season.

The crowd of 7,112 wasn’t even aware it had witnessed history, because Smith wasn’t credited with the goal until the scoring ruling was changed about 30 minutes after the game. Because The Post was an afternoon paper in those days, I still was able to track down Smith back at his hotel in time to get his comments for the story, and it’s my guess – just a guess, mind you – he had done a little, ahem, “unwinding” between the time he left the arena and arrived back in his room to take my call.

“In about 10 years,” he said, “I’ll tell the kids I played dynamic, stickhandled past two guys and blasted it into the net. They’ll never know the difference, so I’ll boast about it.”

Smith added, “I knew I was the last guy to touch it, “but I wasn’t sure I’d get the credit. Some fan’s probably got the puck, and he doesn’t know how valuable it is.”

Smith was the first, but he’s now one of 11 goalies who have scored a total of 14 goals in the regular-season and playoffs.

Philadelphia’s Ron Hextall was the second — and the first to actually shoot the puck into the other net. That happened against Boston on Dec. 8, 1987. He did it again in the 1989 playoffs against Washington.

The other goalies who have been credited with goals, and the asterisk denotes they shot the puck in:

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.